Jaune and His Sisters And Dad And Mom
by Darty 794
Summary: Hey! It's another Jaune Arc story about his seven sister and his parents!
1. Prologue, Sweet Sanity

Beacon Academy; a shining… well, beacon for all hunters-in-training, who flock to this school every year to become the best of the best in slaying the beasts of Grimm. The headmaster, Professor Ozpin, was enjoying his morning coffee when he suddenly got a message on his personal scroll. On it was a message from an old friend; not as old as he is, but still not as recent. The message read,

"My dear friend, Professor Ozpin of Beacon Academy, the hunter who stands above all hunters in Remnant, wise beyond the collection of both my years and the years of others.

We're visiting Jaune.

Sincerely, your favorite student, JLA."

Professor Ozpin was now choking on his coffee, and scrambling to find the special button he had installed to call Glynda. Once found, Ms. Goodwitch rushed as quickly as she could to, though hesitantly because the last five times was for a coffee run, she opened the door to Ozpin sitting at his desk, scrambling through the drawers to find… something.

"Glynda!" the headmaster shouted with glee as he saw his faithful assistant in the doorway. "Come in, come in, I have urgent news, but first, I was wondering, where's the flask I confiscated from Qrow when he was attending Beacon?"

An odd question. "I believe it's in the bottom right drawer, right next to-." He was already downing the contents of the flask. The assistant was shocked to see the Headmaster drinking so early in the morning. "Professor Ozpin! What on Oum's great Remnant are you doing?! Not only is it too early to be drinking, but that flask has been in there so long, you're certain to drop dead!"

Professor Ozpin set the flask down after chugging most of its contents before looking to his scroll and sending the message to her. Upon reading it, then rereading it, then re-rereading, she looked up and asked one simple question.

"Did you save any left for me?"


	2. Rude Awakening

Team RWBY's dorm awoke to the sound of their alarm. The interesting thing about this alarm clock was that it was loud enough for their room to hear, but soft enough that those on the other side of the walls remained unaffected. Another interesting fact was how the alarm traveled around the room; from one side to the other, this alarm would not relent until properly petted. Team RWBY began all of their mornings the same way, thanks to the fuzzy alarm clock that was Zwei.

Blake was the first to wake, but the last to leave. She spent her morning either waking up Yang while simultaneously cursing the barking alarm clock that never shut up. With his stupid fuzzy face, and his stupid fuzzy and stubby legs, and his ugly little doggy bu-!

Weiss would normally wake up next and be the first out of bed. A lady should be ready to take on the day, no matter how early. She made her way to the coffee maker to prepare hers and Ruby's coffee. As she prepared the hot water, she turned and noticed Zwei still barking. She smiled at the adowable widdle wuv bug dat wuz Zwei! AHEM! 'Focus, Weiss!' She scolded herself. 'You're using hot water. The last thing you need is a trip to the infirmiry.'

Yang woke up next, but refuse to leave or even act like she was awake, mostly because she loved irritating her partner. "Yang!" hissed her partner. "Wake up!" The blonde and buxom brawler responded as she always does when this happens. Fake snore loudly, usually accompanied by some unintelligible mumbling to add to the disguise. Blake would always get furious, and that made it all the better.

Ruby wakes up last to the smell of coffee and the sound of Zwei barking. She stretched her back and arms as she looked down at Zwei. "Okay, Zwei! That's enough!" Zwei stopped. "Thank you for being our alarm clock again!" With that, Zwei collapsed to the ground, curled into a ball, and fell asleep. So precious!

As she leapt out of bed, Ruby stretched some more before walking over to Weiss for her coffee. She sipped her mug and hummed in delight. Weiss knew just what she liked.

"So, what's on the agenda for today?" she asked to anyone.

"I'm going to the book store in town," Blake stated, "so long as somebody doesn't bother me in the meantime!" She glared at Zwei. He stayed curled up.

Yang sat up instantly. "I'm gonna hit the gym, then maybe go bother Vomit Boy for a bit." She then looked off with a hand under chin, thinking her plan of attack. "I'm thinking the open shower door offer today."

Weiss looked at her partner's sister with disgust. "Well, I'm going to stay as far away from Arc as possible. The less I see of him today, the better."

"Don't you think you're being a little harsh, Weiss?" Blake asked. "I mean, yeah, he's not the best guy around, but I don't think it warrants being so hostile."

"Blake, the difference between us is that the blonde you like you actually like back."

"Aw! I didn't know you felt that way about me, Blakey!" Yang teased.

"Besides, it's obvious who's got it bad for him, anyways!"

Everyone was all ears about this. They may be huntresses-in-training, but they were still teenage girls, and while most of them don't gossip themselves, hearing gossip and hearsay was still in their blood. More so for some than others.

Ruby was curious for the sake of her first friend since coming to Beacon, and not because she maybe, kind of, sort of, possibly have a teeny tiny, itty bitty, teensy weensy crush on him. Nope, no way, nuh uh, negatory!

Yang was curious so she could have new ammo. Ooh! Maybe she could work it into her teasing later today! She could see his red face now. She's so excited she could wet herself!

Blake was Blake. Enough said.

"You seriously don't know?" Upon getting a various range of motion from their differentiating head shakes, Weiss sighed. "Honestly, what do you do in your free time?"

"Play with Zwei."

"Plan my next attack with puns and teases."

"Seriously?"

"Ugh, whatever! Look, I heard Coco say that new green-haired girl from Haven say the Cardin said that Nora said that the person who is obviously crushing on Jaune is-"

A high-pitched shriek was heard across the hall.

Kicking down the door, Ruby rushed to Team JNPR's door. She knocked quickly, shouting, "Is everything all right?"

Through the door, they could hear Jaune shout. "No! It's not all right! It's all wrong! This is the worst news in the history of ever!"

"We're coming in, alright?" Ruby asked.

"NO! I mean, just stay away from me for the rest of the day, okay?"

"Works for me." Weiss went back to her dorm to get ready for the day.

"Hey, Vomit Boy? It's me, Yang. What's the big deal?"

"Look, I can't exactly tell you, but it's really bad! Just promise me you'll stay away from me today, alright?"

"Okay, we will. On behalf of my team, we will all stay away." Ruby said as she held up her right hand. "Team Leader's honor!"

"Thanks, Ruby. I knew I could count on you."

Yang leaned against the door. "So, Jaune, you need any help in the shower this morning?"

"Yang!" Ruby scolded in her most quiet voice. "I promised!"

"Hey, I just got told to stay away from my whole plan for the day." Yang hissed back. "Cut me some slack!"

"He'll be fine, Yang." Pyrrha's voice called back. "Just go back to your dorm and leave Jaune alone, okay?"

"Yeesh, what got into Pyrrha?"

"Well, how would you feel if someone made fun of Blake?"

"Trust me, Rubes; if someone was making fun of Blakey, they're gonna have to learn to speak with their hands."

As Team RWBY went back to their dorm, Ren was trying to calm his leader down before he had a heart attack. He didn't understand it himself, but Ren knew that if Jaune was freaking out about his family, it wasn't something to shrug off. The only thing the team knew about Jaune's family was that he has seven sisters. 'That might explain how he's so dense around girls.'

Nora walked out of the bathroom in nothing but a pink towel she "borrowed" from Ren. She grabbed her clothes for the day and walked back in to change. "I honestly don't see what the big deal is!" She shouted. "If I were you, I'd be excited that my family's coming over! Then again, I'm an orphan, so-"

"Nora!" Pyrrha chided. She was busy sitting next to Jaune on his bed, rubbing his back. "Look, Jaune; why don't you explain to us why this is such a bad thing? I mean, you love your family, right?"

"More than anything. It's just… I know them too well."

"What do you mean?" Ren asked.

"Well, let's just say that if you grew up with the people I did, you'd know everything about me."

"I don't see that as a problem." Jaune looked at his partner. "I mean- Well, why wouldn't we want to know more about you?"

The bathroom door swung open with a kick from Nora. "Shower's open, folks! If you want to use it, get to it!" she announced.

Ren nodded and gathered his things. "By the way, Jaune. What time are they showing up?"

"Around noon. Why?"

"Just making sure there's enough time today." The door shut behind Ren.

"Enough time for what?" Jaune asked. "Enough time for what?!" he cried.

"Jaune, calm down!" Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, it's just Ren being Ren!" Nora said as she bounced on her bed. "So, what are we supposed to do today?"

"Well, get ready for today: clean up the dorm, get everything set up for them, and so on and so forth."

"I think that's all we need to do, Jaune." Nora pointed out.

"And when noon arrives?"

"Survive, Pyrrha." Jaune grimaced.

"WE SURVIVE."


	3. Calm Before the Storm

Team JNPR got right to work to ready themselves for the arrival of Jaune's family. All the dirty laundry was gathered by Nora and taken to the school's laundromat. Ren was to scrub the bathroom top to bottom; a task he felt neutral about. Pyrrha was put in charge of the rest of their rooms; cleaning the windows, polishing the knobs to everything, and vacuuming up everything on the floor. Jaune was going to help, too, but Pyrrha told him to grab breakfast for everyone as a way to calm him down. He was reluctant, but gave in and did so anyways.

Before anyone started, Jaune ordered his team to take what they don't want sucked up by the vaccum. On Ren's bed was a suitcase, which he claims contains all the tools and ingredients needed to make his energy smoothies, a stuffed sloth with a heart on its face, and script for his fan fiction about a world where people play video games for a living and generate entertaining content based on that. On Nora's bed was another stuffed sloth, but the heart is on its belly, and a notebook covered in pink and red hearts, which only she and Ren were allowed to look at. The only thing on Pyrrha's bed was a small notebook, and the only odd thing about it was that she couldn't stop blushing while she was moving it. On Jaune's bed was his collection of X-Ray and Vav comics, two of which were the infamous DragonFace spin-offs.

Jaune asked them all what they wanted for breakfast, and they all ordered the usual: pancakes for Nora and Ren, extra butter and syrup for Nora, orange juice with pulp and a banana for Pyrrha, and bacon and eggs for himself in the shape of a face. Normally, a student is not allowed to order for more than one person. The only exception to this is if they are the team leader. This, however, eats away at the entire team's meal, so a leader who orders for four and eats it all without his teammates takes away their meal for the entire day. The last time a leader did that, they showed up at dinner covered in bruises "allegedly" from his team.

As Jaune made his way to the cafeteria, Nora was already hard at work in the laundromat. Before coming to Beacon, she didn't know how to work a washer and dryer. Luckily, Ren and Jaune were more than well trained in the art of laundry. She started with the towels; "not too many in one machine," they warned her, and she knew better than to go against a warning from her best friend and her leader. So in two separate machines, she washed the towels, and in two separate dryers when they were washed.

She washed then washed Jaune's jeans. Jaune explained that due to the fabric, jeans can't be washed with the other clothes. She didn't get what that meant, but again, she didn't disobey an order from the boss. So, into their own machine they went. She made sure to empty the pockets as well, because she didn't want anything to get soggy if he forgot to take them out. Plus, any spare lien in his pockets would always benefit her. It's like she's being paid to do his laundry!

Then came the rest, colors and whites. Whites were to be separated from colored clothing because… reasons? Nora completely forgot, which was probably because it was the first thing Ren taught her, and he taught her a lot already. In their own machine the colored clothes went, every last one. …Except for a pair of red panties hidden in the pile of whites.

Meanwhile, back in the dorm, Pyrrha was vacuuming everything: every dust bunny, every stray hair, and every scrap of paper from the Valentine's Day special that both warmed and broke everyone's hearts. She pushed it to the back of her mind, just like everything else in her life. Well, except one thing.

She then began wiping the dressers and night stands of dust, top to bottom, and finished with a good polish of the knobs. She ended her tasks with wiping of the window. She enjoyed this activity the most, because she was able to people watch and see the beautiful courtyard, and so she saved it for last.

As she was wiping, she noticed Blake making her way through the courtyard. Judging by what was in the direction she was going, she deduced that she was heading to the bull-heads, possibly for some errand in town. If it was Blake, there was no telling. The two barely spoke to one another, so Pyrrha doesn't know much about her. She knew some things about her, but not much. Blake loved to read, but Pyrrha didn't know what genre. She hung out with her team, but she didn't know how close they were. She wore that black bow on her head every single day, but she didn't know why. Maybe…

It was at this point that Pyrrha realized she wiped the window so much, that she could see more clearly through the window than ever before. So, she decided to spend the rest of her time making sure the rest of the window matched.

In the bathroom, Ren toiled, but not without the proper instruments. This was the first time since they moved into their new home that anyone cleaned the bathroom like this. And judging by the grime in between the tiles, a very long time as well. Ren acted with surgical precision; the right amount of the right chemicals combined with the correct amount of scrubbing that would get it clean without exhausting himself in the process. This is similar to his fighting style, as well.

After scrubbing the floor tiles as best as he could, he admired his work and moved on to the shower. "Second verse, same as the first."

As his team finished up, Jaune was already making his way back. Unfortunately, the trip didn't help take his mind of his family coming over. He carried the tray of food down the hall when suddenly tripped and knocked over a fellow student.

"S-sorry! I didn't see you there!" The shrill voice barked back.

"You should be and should have, you dunce!"

"I'm sorry, Weiss! Like I said, I didn't see you."

"How could you? Between that tray and your mile-off stare, I'm surprised you know where your room is!"

"Y-yeah, sorry about that."

"And quit saying, "sorry"! You sound really weak when you do that."

"Yeah, so-!" A glare caught his tongue. "I mean, I just have lot on my mind, you know?"

"No, I don't, and I don't care."

Ouch.

"Yeah, okay, well, I'll be heading up then."

Weiss watched him leave and she could tell by looking at him from behind that he was distracted again. He was bound to run into somebody again. She shouldn't care but…

She knew she would regret this.

"Hey, Arc!" Jaune turned his head around to face her. "I might as well walk with you. Knowing you, you'd probably fall from the stairs and break your neck."

"Oh, thanks!"

"Whatever. I'm just doing this because your team cares about you, and if you died, Pyrrha would quit being a huntress; and Remnant doesn't deserve that." She then thought to herself. 'Not to mention she would hate me, and I need as many powerful allies as possible.'

She caught up to Jaune and she decided to break the ice further with some small talk. "So, what was going on this morning?" She didn't know the definition of small talk.

"Well…" Jaune was hesitant. "It's kind of personal."

"Family issue. Got it."

Jaune was in shock. How did she know?! "Buh-"

"I know because I've been there. I know what it's like to be nervous about your family. I know because everyone goes through this kind of thing."

"What would you have to be nervous about?"

It was now her turn to be in shock. "Do you not know who I am?"

"Um, Weiss… Sheep?"

Weiss was red with furry and embarrassment. "Schnee! It's Weiss Schnee, as in the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company!"

"Oh, really?! Wow! That's gotta be stressful!"

And now he was mocking her?! The gall on this one! "How dare you!" She began punching his arm as hard as she could. "Do? You? Know? Nothing?!"

"Ow! What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that I need to be the best so that I can run the best! That's why I'm here! That's why you should be here! That's why it's a big deal!"

"If it's such a big deal, then why didn't you go to Atlas?"

Weiss stopped hitting him and thought. She then realized she lost her cool. She stepped back and took a deep breath. Inhale and exhale.

"I didn't go to Atlas because… I was sick of it."

"Sick of what?"

"Everything. My father, my "friends", the professors, I-" She sighed. "I was just sick of everyone seeing me as Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company. I just-"

"Wanted to be a normal kid?"

"I guess. I mean, when my sister became a huntress, I was so proud of her. She was going out and doing things on her own, making her own destiny. But I have to go back when I graduate. I thought that if I learned a bit about being Huntress, I could better understand why my sister became one."

"Kind of sounds like my dad." Jaune stated. "I'd sit for hours and listen to him talk about all these great adventures he had. All the people he helped, all the great things he did; I wanted that. That's why I came to Beacon; to become just like my dad." Jaune was smiling for the first time since this morning. He then realized they stopped in the middle of the stairs. "Whoops! I guess we better keep moving!"

Weiss took in what Jaune said. He wants to become a hunter to be like his father? I guess when she thought about it, it was just like her and her sister.

As they approached the dorm, they noticed someone struggling with a big tub on wheels in the elevator. Looking closer, it was Nora with the laundry.

"Nora?"

"Jaune?!" She looked like small Nevermore in front of a speeding bull-head. "Hey! What, uh, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, I've got breakfast. You need some help?"

"Help? Nah, I've got this!" She was sweating bullets. "So, uh, what are you and Weiss doing? Planning out the wedding?" Weiss took exception to that.

"You-!"

"Nah, we're just talking, Nora." Jaune interrupted. "Wait here; I'm going to go put the food away. Could you help me with the door, Weiss?"

"Fine, but no funny business!"

They speedily made their way to Team JNPR's door. As Weiss opened the door, a blinding light like that of which comes from a god's eyes shone through the door, burning her eyes.

"MY EYES!" She cried.

She stumbled back until she ran into Jaune, causing him to toss the food into the air, sending a rain of breakfast to fall upon them.

Ruby and Pyrrha ran out their respective doors to find Jaune flat on his back on the ground with Weiss on top of him, both covered in syrup. Jaune's eyes were covered by his eggs and Weiss had bacon in her hair. Pancakes littered the ground around them. Pyrrha picked up her now empty glass, the contents of which now covering Weiss's legs while the banana found its way into Jaune's left hand.

Using his right hand to help himself up, he noticed the breakfast all around him and Pyrrha and Ruby looking down on them with red tints over their faces. Pyrrha moved to help him, but Jaune held his left hand out to give her her banana. She took it, only for Jaune to then use his hand to steady himself while his right hand pointed to a now sobbing Nora struggling with the laundry. Pyrrha understood and made her way to help the bubbly bomber. Ruby decided to speak up.

"Um, are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You okay, Weiss?"

"Yeah, just-" She blinked to twice and shook her head to make sure she was seeing this right. Jaune's eyes grew ten times larger and developed yellow irises. She covered her mouth to keep herself from laughing.

"What? What's so funny?" He then realized he was blinded. He peeled the egg off his eyes, only to be blinded by the light in their doorway. "I think my eyes are fried!" Weiss was now laughing as hard as she could. "I'm like the poster-boy for breakfast!"

As Weiss came down from her laughing fit, she realized she was no better herself. She was covered head to toe in syrup, bacon in her hair, orange juice on her legs; she thought herself as a walking balanced breakfast! She quickly got up and ran into her dorm room to reshower and change her clothes again. She knew she would regret associating with Arc today… but she didn't.

Meanwhile, back in the hallway, Jaune slowly got up and tried to make the best of his situation. He ate the eggs from his eyes with his bare hands and walked into his dorm room. He made his way to the shower, only to be blocked by Ren as he was coming out.

"I finished up in the bathroom, Jaune. It's clean from top to-" He then noticed Jaune. "-bottom." He sighed. "You need to use the shower?"

"Yeah, sorry about this, Ren?"

Giving another sigh, Ren stepped out of the way. "It was nice while it lasted."

Before Jaune got into the shower, he looked at his scroll to check the time. Ten-thirty. Just one hour and a half away from seeing his family for the first time since he left home.

Back in the hall, Nora was trying to find a single pancake that wasn't covered in carpet dust and hair. Ren looked on as Ruby was trying to make sense of what happened and Pyrrha was looking through the laundry. Jaune's jeans were on top, which made sense since there weren't a lot of them. Then came the colored clothes; nothing out of the ordinary, towels next, most likely to keep them warm, and then came the whites.

Or should I say, the "pinks"?


	4. One Step Away

As the bull-head carrying Blake was making its way back from Vale, it's lone passenger inside looked outside her window and pondered what happened earlier this morning. Jaune screamed and was going to be dealing with "something" in the near future. What that "something" was is not clear. Was it Cardin again? Not likely, though not impossible. From what she heard from Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha, Jaune not only saved the former bully, but also won his respect as well. But perhaps he changed his ways once again. He stopped harassing Jaune, and Velvet as well, but perhaps it was only temporary.

Another possibility she thought of was Jaune getting a message from Professor Ozpin about his grades. This, like the previous notion, was unlikely. Jaune may not be a straight-A student, but he was no slacker, either. The times she caught him reading his comics were in his down-time, or perhaps before starting his homework, and his homework, while not A+ material were still above average most times. He studied and turned in his assignments on time, so, again, it wasn't likely about his grades.

Perhaps it was a letter from home. If so, then it was a personal matter and didn't involve her in the slightest. Because of this, while it was the most likely to be the cause, she kept her nose out of it.

As the bull-head landed safely upon the landing pad by the station, Blake made her way, with her new books, across the courtyard into Beacon. She looked at the cover once again and felt a smile creep across her face. She gazed upon the beauty, the majesty, the awe-inspiring cover of Madame Noir. This was the sequel, or rather, the other side of the story of the previous novel, Monsieur Blanc. In the latter story, a young squire made his way from being a clumsy, albeit intelligent peasant to becoming a great and well-loved knight. According to the anonymous author, Madame Noir would tell the tale of his greatest ally, and love-interest, the assassin known only as Madam Noir. The cover of Monsieur Blanc was a white cover with golden accentuations, with a silver knight's helmet in the center. The book she had just purchased slightly different. Instead of white, the cover of Madam Noir was black, and had silver accentuations, not gold. A gold coin was the image in the center this time, perhaps alluding to a conflict of interests between her "highest bidder" and her desire for change?

Unfortunately, she would have to wait until after lunch because she was no longer allowed to read in the cafeteria. Her Ninjas of Love book was discovered and, when Yang took it from her, was read aloud. And not just from start to finish. No, that would have been too merciful for Yang. Instead, she read the pages that Blake cat-eared. The parts that uncultured philistines such as Yang and Professor Goodwitch viewed as "smut".

She grew furious at the thought. Yang got four weeks detention, but Blake felt the punishment should have been more severe. Invasion of privacy, theft, and public indecency; Blake could feel her rage choking her! But that was in the past, and there was no need to bring it up again. She swallowed her anger and made her way to her dorm.

As she walked to the door, she noticed a distinct smell of maple syrup in the air. She then noticed the carpet in the hall felt wet, as if it were scrubbed. She ignored these for now and decided to ask Ruby once she entered. Before doing so, she felt it "friendly" to check on Jaune, since he was clearly stressed this morning. She knocked on the door three times.

"Hello? Jaune? It's me, Blake."

"Blake?" Jaune's muffled voice answered. He then opened the door and revealed he was dressed in his usual hoodie with armor, jeans, and sneakers with whi-

His socks were pink. Pink as a cherry blossom in spring. Pink as an infant's cheeks after laughing at some nonsensical thing. Pink as page 312 in Ninjas of Love when Hoshi-

"Blake? You alright?" Jaune followed her gaze to his… predicament. "Oh. I can explain that. We had a… an issue with the laundry."

"Red fell in with the whites?" Blake guessed.

"Yeah, but it shouldn't be a problem. I mean, who pays attention to what kind of socks you're wearing?"

"I guess you're right." As Jaune shut the door behind him, Blake decided on getting back to the matter at hand. "You alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, you did scream pretty loudly this morning."

"Oh, yeah. Right."

"Anything we can help with?"

"Nah, it should be fine, just…" Jaune thought for a moment. Should he tell her? Weiss already knows, but she guessed. Blake probably has no idea. Plus, it's almost noon anyways. Might as well tell somebody, right? "My family is coming here."

"Oh." Blake was… half-expecting this. She guessed it was something to do with family, but she didn't really know. She was genuinely curious now and need to know more. "Okay, so why is that a bad thing?"

"It's not, it's just… I love my family, don't get me wrong, but it's just…"

"Jaune," Blake got his attention. "I need you to take a deep breath, think, and then tell me."

"Okay, deep breath." He inhaled, then exhaled. He did this three times, breathing more deeply than the last. Now came the hard part: thinking. How should he word it? His family was so… not normal. But the more he thought about it, more specifically Ruby and Yang and what Ruby told him, what family is normal? He took another deep breath. If it wasn't that they weren't normal, what was it? Maybe because he's lived with them for so long, they know everything about him? Every embarrassing story was just a thought away for them. But he could always ask them not to tell the stories, right? Yeah! They love him, and he loves them, too. He smiled, took one last deep breath, and finally explained.

"I guess I was worrying for nothing, but… I guess I was worried because they're my family, and it's like showing you guys the side of me that nobody but them have seen, you know?"

Blake smiled. "Yeah, I think I do know. I would feel really nervous, too, if my friends met my parents. There are things only they know, and there are things only you guys know."

"Right!" Jaune sighed. "It feels so good to have somebody to talk to about it."

"Anytime. Oh, by the way; what happened out here?"

"What do you mean?"

"It smells like syrup out here." Jaune flinched.

"Uh, let's just say it was an unfortunate incident."

Blake chuckled. "Sure."

As she was leaving, Jaune noticed the bag she was carrying. "Hey, what's that?"

Blake lifted her bag slightly. "Oh. You mean this? I went into town and bought a book."

"What's it about?"

"Well, the author of the previous novel said this would be something like the other side to it."

"Oh, so it's like a behind-the-scenes sort of deal?"

"I guess you could say that. I can't wait to read it!"

"Who's the author?"

"Um..." Blake couldn't answer. The author only gave a nom de plume, but even that changed every once in a while. They seemed to have changed it every time she started a new story. It made finding her books incredibly confusing for her fans. The only similarity between the names was they were all female. "It says Madame Noir, but that's all that's on the cover and the spine, so I guess her name is Madame Noir, too?"

Jaune flinched, albeit only slightly. "O-oh really? That's weird!"

His reaction did not go unnoticed. "Jaune, do you-"

A loud ringing shattered the otherwise quiet air. The loud ringing was followed by a loud crashing of the door behind Blake as Yang set her foot down and grabbed Blake by the collar of her shirt.

"Come on, Blake!" The blonde shouted. "It's lunchtime!"

At that same moment, a second crash followed, this time behind Jaune. The culprit this time was Nora, who was literally drooling at the ringing bell.

"Jaune!" The armored leader suffered the same fate as the bibliophilic black-haired beauty. "It's lunchtime!"

"U-um, Nora, m-maybe you should c-calm down?"

She slurped her drool and sweetly spoke to her leader. "Jaune? Who ruined my breakfast?" He pointed to himself, too fearful to speak. "That's right! And who's going to make it up to me?" Same response. "Yup! Now, either I eat lunch…" Her sweet tone suddenly became sour. "Or I eat you! So what's it going to be, leader?" Her emphasis on the word "leader" made it clear she wasn't messing around.

"L-let's go eat lunch!"

"Attaboy, Jaune!" Nora then picked him up and carried him to the cafeteria, bridal style.

Once at their usual table, Teams RWBY and JNPR began eating their meals. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich for Ruby, salad for Weiss and Ren, a tuna sandwich for Blake, a whole cherry pie for Yang, dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets for Jaune, onion soup for Pyrrha, and a whole roasted chicken for Nora. She threw her plate across the cafeteria to the dishes and demanded a second helping. Jaune vowed to never again lose Nora's breakfast ever again, or else it would be his legs she would chewing!

As they were eating, Jaune wouldn't stop peeking out the window, keeping an eye out for his family. Everyone but Nora noticed, but Yang decided to point it out.

"What's up, Pinkie?" Nora looked up from her chicken, currently ripping the skin off a leg with her teeth. The sight disturbed her. "N-not you; Jaune."

"Huh? Oh, um, well… Wait, "Pinkie"?"

"Your socks."

'She knows!' Jaune screamed at himself.

"I know!" Yang roared with laughter. "How did you mess that up?! You do know that you can't mix red with white when you wash them, right?"

"Yeah, I knew. Nora didn't."

All eyes were on said Valkyrie as she pulled a ribcage out of her mouth and placed in on the table. Weiss pushed away her salad with disgust.

"You didn't answer me, Jaune. Why are you looking out the window like the cops are coming to take you away any second?"

He wouldn't be against that, actually. But if his mother found out… "I'm expecting someone."

"Oh, yeah? Who?"

Now all eyes were on Jaune. He fidgeted a bit, now cutting off the heads to his dinosaurs. This was a habit done since his childhood when he was nervous at dinner. His hands were shaking and his eyes never left his plate.

"Jaune, are you okay?"

Jaune looked up to his partner. She had a look of concern on her face.

"Do you want us to tell them?"

"Tell us what?" Ruby asked.

"That his parents are coming over." All eyes were on Weiss this time, with Jaune's set being the biggest of them all. "What? If I didn't tell them, you never would have either."

"Uh-" Jaune croaked.

"Oh, so momma and poppa Arc are coming to town?" Yang teased. "This will be quite family-ar for you, huh? I'm sure this will be quite the tale to tell your kids! Or should I say, the "Arc"? Right? Right?"

Jaune was frozen.

"Right? Yo! Vomit Boy? Anyone home?" She looked around the table, and found they were following Jaune's gaze. Joining the crowd, Yang turned her head to look through the window…

…And saw a bright yellow bull-head flying over the courtyard.

"They're here," Jaune whispered.

Nora raised threw her plate with less vigor this time and asked the cooks.

"Could I get my chicken to go?"


	5. Tough Love

All eyes were on the helipad, as every student but Jaune crammed themselves against the windows for just a peek as the bright yellow bull-head touched down. It was difficult to make out what exactly the designs on it were, but they were able to make out blobs of pink and red and blue, as well as a large white blob of sorts on the back hatch of the aircraft, which slowly opened to reveal nine people. Only about ten meters away from reaching the courtyard, they could finally make out all the members of the group.

As the unknown group made their way their way towards the school, Jaune finished his meal and took his plate to the wash station.

A little girl skipped in front of the group, her golden hair in pigtails and shining with a glean that rivaled the sun. She was wearing blue dress with white frill, and her pigtails were held by flowery hair ties. In her arms were a stuffed bear with black "fur" and white markings. Every now and again, she would hold her stuffed bear up dance in a circle, not tripping up in her skips. Her face had a look beyond happy, like any child that was blissfully ignorant of the threat of the Grimm.

Jaune was now moving his way towards exiting the cafeteria.

Jumping every now and again behind the little girl, a look of shock and fear on her face every time the latter spun around, was a girl with honey colored hair. She wore denim overalls that were covered in oil and grease stains. Once close enough, one could see behind her right ear was a pencil. Once the smaller of the two went back to skipping normally, the taller one would sigh in relief… only to freak out once more when she started spinning again.

Jaune noticed Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch on their way from their duties as chaperones of today's lunch.

Meanwhile, a more muscular young woman stood on the right side, laughing with delight at the scene before her. She was wearing a denim jacket and a black T-shirt that showed her stomach; or rather, her six-pack. Over her left eye was an eyepatch, complete with a scar that started from brow and slanted down over her upper lip. As she raised her right hand to place on her canary-colored head as she laughed, one could see the large cut over it. Despite her jovial state, this woman looked dangerous.

The two professors nodded to their student, all taking a simultaneous sigh that said the same thing.

It was hard to see her in the group, but in an amber dress, with a hair color like Jaune's, a young girl was hiding from the windows. Every now and again, she would peek from behind her cover by the tall woman in the center to look through the windows for someone, only to duck back when she believed she was spotted. She looked like she was almost ready to cry.

"Let's get this over with."

The tall woman in question, in a black dress, black-rimmed glasses, and long silver hair was also eyeing the cafeteria. Her demeanor was that of a noble woman: stiff back with no signs of slouching, face forward towards her destination, and a black book in her hands that showed she was well-read, and also looked oddly familiar to Blake. If looks could kill Grimm, she'd be the hero Remnant deserves.

As the rest of the students were watching as the group crossed the courtyard, Ruby stepped back and noticed Jaune wasn't among the crowd of onlookers. She ran towards the blonde and saw him with Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch sighing.

Imitating the tall woman was slightly shorter woman in gray dress. Her hair was goldenrod in a ponytail, beautifully flowing in the wind. Unlike her mother, her eyes were on the prize: the doors to the academy. As she walked forward, she darted her eyes to make sure her fellow compatriots in the group were okay, only to dart them back to the doors. Around her neck was silver chain with a locket at the end of the loop. The locket itself had a jade in the center, sitting encompassed by the engravings that also accented the locket.

Ruby was about to follow the three as they moved towards the exit to the cafeteria until she got an even better idea. The group was now only minutes away from reaching the cafeteria.

Two girls were chatting in the group. It appeared the one with banana colored hair and plain white T-shirt and shorts was pleading with the lemon one in a sweater and sweatpants who was carrying a large bag. The latter reached into her bag and pulled out a large book. Upon closer inspection, it was a cookbook titled, "Roasting Beasts and Cooking Sweets". The banana color haired leapt with joy and hugged the other one tight while gripping the book tightly. The lemon one was blushing for some reason.

As the three opened the door, they didn't notice one student leave out the back in a flurry of rose petals.

The odd one out of the group was a man with faded blonde hair and a scruffy five-o-clock shadow of blond facial hair growing out around his mouth, chin, and cheeks. He wore orange business suit with a white undershirt and a yellow tie. The male students were blinded while the girls were sickened by his poor fashion sense. In an odd way, he looked a lot like…

Jaune took a deep breath as stood in a position where his family couldn't see him, but he was still outside. He turned to Professor Ozpin, who nodded, then to Professor Goodwitch, who also nodded. He put one foot forward and-

"Hi there!" A voice chirped.

Jaune peeked his head around the corner and saw his family about twenty meters away and Ruby Rose, his fellow leader and first friend at Beacon, standing sixteen meters away. Jaune had only one question on his mind. 'What is she doing?!'

"I'm Ruby; Ruby Rose!" She extended her hand. "Nice to meet you!"

The family looked at the small girl before them. Then they looked at each other. The small girl stepped back to her group, her shy nature showing. Her even more timid compatriot was clutching the taller woman's dress, whom of which was looking at her with disgust, and was barely stepping out to peek. The eye-patched woman looked at her like she was some strange creature, which for all she knew, she was. The ponytail woman took a defensive stance, gripping her locket that was now humming. The one in overalls looked to her right and noticed rose petals, which piqued her interest as she now eyed Ruby like she were a fantastic new machine just invented and revealed. The sweats-wearing girl reached into her bag, only to turn her head to look down as she dug around for a book to explain what just happened. The girl with the cookbook started looking through her pages for something this "Ruby Rose" might eat. But the most surprising action of all was the man's, as he stepped forward and delicately grabbed Ruby's hand.

"Well, hi there, yourself, Miss Rose!" He raised his hand and shook it down gently, so as to not hurt her. "I'm Jack; Jack Arc!"

"Jack Arc? Oh!" Realization hit Ruby as she got her hand back. "You must be Jaune's dad!"

"You know my boy?" Jack Arc was now more interested in this girl than before.

"Yeah! I live across the hall from him! He's a great guy!"

"Really?" A loud roar of laughter erupted from Jack's mouth. "That's my boy! Not even here for a year and he's already got himself such a cute girlfriend!"

"G-girlfriend?!" Ruby was now all red in the face. "O-oh, n-no, i-it's not-!"

"Jack!" A voice echoed across the academy as the tall woman stepped forward. "Leave her alone! She's clearly not his girlfriend."

"How can you tell, love?"

"Look at her; she can barely stand at the idea of it. No, this one is simply an admirer; a child."

Ruby's red face soon turned white as the overbearing warmth Jaune's father gave her was now replaced with cold distaste she felt from the woman.

"If you must know who I am, little girl, I am Jetta Arc, Jaune's mother. Now come along, children, let's find your brother."

As the girls walked past Ruby towards Jaune, he was currently panicking behind the wall protecting him from his family. He peeked out once more to see Ruby still on the ground. Poor Ruby; she didn't deserve that. He looked at Professor Goodwitch, who was clearing her throat to speak.

"I see you mother is just as pleasant as the last time she was here."

"I know, and it's even worse at home!" Jaune said. "I mean, she can be loving at times, but most of the time, she's overly critical and cold! When I told her I wanted to become a Hunter, she told me not to waste my time and become a pharmacist instead!"

"Why didn't you?" Professor Ozpin inquired.

"When was the last time you heard of a pharmacist saving the day?"

"Well, not in grandiose adventures, sure, but they help our society by-"

"I! AM NOT! A CHILD!"

Everyone was wide-eyed as they looked at the red-head who now stood up with shaking knees as she glared at Jetta, whom was now eyeing her with a raised brow in curiosity.

"A-and what makes you think you aren't one, kid?" The ponytailed woman was shaken by Ruby's voice and was gripping her locket as she readied herself for a fight.

"Because…" Ruby's shaking knees now quivered less.

"I…" Her red eyes were stinging, but didn't lack her conviction from before.

"Drink…" She pointed her thumb to herself as she finished her statement with conviction!

"Milk!"

A long silence stilled the air, as everyone watched from inside as Ruby stood up. Yang was about ready to break the glass. Unfortunately, she was the first to the window, so she was trapped between it and the student behind her. She would have cursed this situation before, being unable to step in to help her sister, but now, she was… less unhappy about it. If she stepped in, Ruby probably wouldn't have stood up for herself like she did. She would have probably said something less awesome, Yang figured.

The long silence was broken by Jack laughing again. However, this time he was joined by three of the girls with him: eye-patch, cookbook, and the tiny one. The small one ran over and hugged Ruby while the tallest one was patting her roughly on the back. The one with the cookbook was flipping through her pages even faster than she was earlier as she now needed to find the meal to fit this friend of Jaune.

"Well, said kiddo!" He then covered his mouth. "I mean, adult-o! Hahahaha!"

The woman with the eye-patch lifted Ruby up and put her on her shoulder. "That was super sweet, Red!"

The woman with the cookbook stopped on a page. "Sweet! Oh, some honey ham? No, that wouldn't work for someone like her!"

The little girl was jumping up at the taller woman, who, upon seeing the former, lifted her up onto her other shoulder. "Maybe we could give her cookies! Everyone likes cookies!"

"I don't."

"That's because you can't bake, oh, master chef!"

"Listen here, biker-brain!"

"Kids, kids! Don't fight in front of our new friend!" Jack pleaded with the girls. "Ruby Rose, meet my daughters: Janna Arc," he said as he introduced the chef with a gesture, "Jade Arc," whom clicked her tongue as she winked (blinked?) and pointed to Ruby, "and Jelly Arc!"

"You want a cookie?" Jelly asked as she reached into her bear and pulled out a chocolate-chip cookie.

"Sure!" Ruby grabbed the cookie and ate it… Only to regret it as it turned out to be oatmeal raisin.

"I love oatmeal raisin! Do you?"

"Mm-hm! Sure do!" Ruby lied. She normally does enjoy oatmeal raisin, so long as she isn't tricked into thinking it's chocolate chip.

"Here are my other children!" Ruby looked as he gestured towards the other girls. He placed his hand on one of the girl's shoulders. "This is my oldest, Jasmine-"

"Jasmine Arc." She said as she stepped forward, out of her father's grasp. "My apologies for not greeting you more kindly." She bowed her head in apology.

"I-I'm Jasper," said the girl in the overalls, "a-and, um, could you please put Jelly down, Jade?"

"Sure." Jade dropped her arm, causing Jelly to also drop with a shout of glee. A response Jasper did not share.

"No-!" Jasper shouted as she tripped and landed on her face.

"Whee!" Jelly fell and safely touched the ground, as she had perfect balance, apparently. "Again! Again!"

"No!" Jasper shouted.

"Aw!"

"Maybe later, kiddo." Jade said.

"Jade, no!"

"Jade, yes!"

"Girls!" Jack barked. He then cleared his throat as he continued. "And this is my little bookwork, June!"

"H-hi! It's nice to meet you!" Said the girl in sweats with a large bag.

"She's an odd duck!" Jelly said.

"N-no, I'm not!"

"Yuh-huh! Jade said so, and Jade never lies!"

"You can't beat the facts, June!" Jade just shrugged.

"Dad!" June called out.

Jack just pinched and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Jade, why are you always at the epicenter?" He then took a deep breath and moved on, "And this is son-!" Jack suddenly felt a kick as he was introducing the girl behind the Jetta. "SHINE! Sunshine! My little ray of sunshine, Jon-!" Jack jumped this time as an even harder kick struck him. "Joan! I said Joan! You all heard it!"

Ruby simply scratched her head. "Um, okay?" So this was Jaune's family. A loving father, his beautiful daughters, each of whom were a cast of characters in themselves, and-

Ruby suddenly felt cold, as reality stepped forward.

"Just so you know, child-" Jetta put as much emphasis on 'child' as she could, "I view you as a loud-mouth brat who got in here by luck, and luck alone." Ruby only responded to this with a glare.

"And just so you know,"

'Come on, Ruby! Think of a good zinger!'

"Coldy McColderson,"

'Swish! And the crowd goes wild!'

"I think you're just a jerk who doesn't know how to have fun!"

"You're wrong!"

All eyes were on the blonde boy who stood in front of the cafeteria, his legs shaking as he cried out to his family and first friend.

"Who is wrong, Jaune?" His mother gave him an icy stare, the only emotion being curiosity in her eyes.

"Y-you both are! I mean, Ruby is a really good huntress, and got in as Beacon's youngest student by nothing less than skill!" Ruby blushed at that. "A-and you, Mom! You're a good person, and I'm sure you know how to have fun! Just, you know, not what everyone else would call fun."

"I see." Jetta was impressed. Jaune left their home with nothing more than his transcripts, Crocea Mors, and a bag of clothes and was a stuttering nervous wreck when it came to speaking with authority. Here he is now, standing up to authority. Weakly standing up to it, but standing up, nonetheless. "Go on, Jack."

Jack turned to his wife. "Hmm?" One look into her eyes told him everything. "Oh! Kids! Come on; let's give your brother the old Arc family welcome!"

"F-family welcome?" Jaune knew what was coming. He's participated in it when he welcomed back his sisters from their trips around the world. It was the standard for anyone who's left the Arc clan for an extensive amount of time and just returned. "I-I don't think that's-!"

"FAMILY WELCOME!" Cried Jelly as she head-butted Jaune right in his nose. Jaune stumbled back a few inches as Jelly stood in front of her brother, disappointment on her face. "Aw! I didn't win!"

"That's 'cause you're still little, Jel!" She looked over Jaune. "Still, you took my favorite part! Looks like I'll have to go for my second favorite part," Jade grabbed Jaune by the should with one hand then read her other hand back and curled into a fist before slamming it into his solar plexus. "The gut!" Jaune was now reeling over in pain, but stayed on his feet.

As he wheezed in and out, Jaune looked at his sister. "That the best you got? I think you're getting weaker, sis." It was at this moment that Yang, Blake, Weiss, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha stepped out, seeing their leader in pain. He then said something no one heard him say before.

"Then again, Jade, you always did suck at landing a good 'punchline', right?"

He punned. Jaune just said a pun! Pyrrha, Blake, and Ren were still trying to comprehend why Jaune was bent over in pain, taunting this larger girl. Weiss looked on in disgust; this was a new low for him in her eyes. Nora was giddy that there was a fight going down; more the merrier, right? Yang… Yang fainted.

"Yang!" Blake ran to her teammate and held her blonde head in her arms. "Yang, are you okay?!"

"I'm good, Blakey; real good… The cat's meow!" Yang said as she drooled.

"Yeah, you're fine." She immediately dropped Yang and turned her gaze back to Jaune's unusual family ritual.

"Need some help there, boss?" Nora asked, revved up and ready to go.

Jaune looked over and saw his team. "N-nah! I-I'm fine!" He was stuttering and shivering from the pain. "J-just some f-family bonding!"

The leaderless teams looked at the group of blondes. This was his family? These blatant nutcases who are beating on one guy? Weiss now knew why Jaune kept them secret; they're insane!

"No, weapons, right, Jaune?" Jasper asked.

"W-weapons?" She positioned herself to Jaune's side. "Ha! You mean coward tools?"

"That's the spirit!" She swung her leg into the back of Jaune's left knee. Jaune felt his left leg give out for a second before he regained control only lost a few centimeters in his standing. "Wow! That's three out of nine, Jaune! You're doing better than I estimated!"

"Th-th-thanks, Jass!" Jaune was really feeling his family's "love" now. He needed to get back up; standing strong! He started with his left leg, slowly moving it back into place. Even if it was the most recent attack, it wasn't the strongest. And… done! Now, he need to stand back up. His leg was burning with pain now, but he had to endure! Almost! There! Yes! Now, he need to-

"I'm sorry." Joan whispered as she slammed her heel hard into the back of Jaune's right knee after sneaking up on him. Jaune was now down on his right knee, his left leg shaking ceaselessly. "Oh, dust! That looked like it hurt!" She was about to cry.

"Don't!" Jaune shouted. "D-d-d-don't c-c-cry!"

Joan sniffed and wiped away her tears. "R-right. Th-this is how we get strong. Th-this is how we show our love."

"R-r-r-right!" Jaune could barely speak now. His head turned towards the rest of his family. "S-so," Jaune was feeling heavy all over his body now. "W-who-?"

"That's enough, Jaune." Jaune must have blanked out for a second, because standing before him, towering over him was his mother. "That's quite enough. I'll end your pain right now."

'This is it!' Jaune thought. 'I… I think I'm going to die! I know I look up to Dad a lot, but Mom is without a doubt the strongest in our whole family!' He shut his eyes and readied himself for the worst. The excruciating pain would come to an end with… a gentle press on his head. Jaune lost consciousness, but did not hit the ground.

In her arms, Jetta held Jaune.

"I will take him to his room to rest." She looked towards the onlookers who recently appeared. "You there! Who among you is his team?"

Pyrrha stepped forward, soon followed by Nora and Ren. "We are."

"Take me to his room." She stood and held Jaune in her arms as she carried him. It almost looked like she was cradling him to Ruby as Jetta turned and walked past her, Team JNPR running ahead to lead the way. Ruby followed her. This did not go unnoticed to Jetta. "And where do you think you're going?"

"Jaune's my friend!" Ruby answered. "I need to make sure he's alright!"

"You wish to coddle him?"

"Wouldn't you?"

Jetta looked down at her son. Even though Jelly was her youngest, even though Jade acted the most immature, even though Jack saw Jaune as a man, Jetta saw Jaune as the baby of the family. Her baby. "I will allow you to follow, but once we are at his door, you will stop."

"Okay." Ruby turned to her team and used her semblance to close the gap between them. "Hey, um, could you guys meet me at the dorm?"

"Um, sure thing, Ruby," Blake responded. "But why?"

"I need to get Jaune a get-well present." Ruby then covered the gap between her and Jetta as she began following Jaune's mother once more.

Blake turned to her only conscious teammate left at the cafeteria. "So, that was-"

"Idiotic?" Weiss attempted to finish Blake's sentence. "Barbaric? The most inhumane treatment any human being has ever been given ever? Yes, I believe those all would suffice."

"Don't be so hard on us, kiddo!"

Blake and Weiss saw the man who spoke, Jack, walking towards them with a smile on his face. "It's just how our family is. Come, let me tell you the story of the Arc family."


	6. The Whole Story

Jack looked around the RWBY dorm room with curiosity, eyes wide open and his head looking at every wall, every corner, every picture, poster, and amenities added by the current residents. He came to one conclusion as he looking around. 'This is definitely a teenage girl's room.' To his credit, he is raising five, about to raise one more, and thankful that his last one won't reach until his first gray hair.

"Would you like some coffee?" Ruby asked. What a kind young lady.

"Yes." He answered. "Just cream, if you have it."

"Coffee with cream." Ruby responded as she memorized the order. "Coming right up!" This was so weird for her. Until today, no boy over the age of 18 has been in her room! Due to rules and regulations, all female-only rooms are to be inspected by female faculty (i.e. Professor Goodwitch). All male-only are inspected by male faculty (i.e. Professor Port). Should there ever be a co-ed room, it is inspected by Professor Ozpin himself.

She was so nervous! But that wasn't the only factor; Jaune's sisters and the rest of team NPR are currently residing here as well until Jaune recovers. Jelly was playing with Zwei, Jasper was keeping her eyes on the two, Jade was playing video games with Yang (and winning), Joan was sitting quietly to herself on Blake's bed (who was too busy reading her new book), June was also reading, but in a corner out of respect for Blake's privacy, with Janna reading her cookbook, and Jasmine and Weiss kept staring at the door, waiting to hear from Jetta about her son. Ruby was playing waitress. As she poured the cream into Jack's coffee, she couldn't help but remember the way Jetta looked at Jaune.

Ruby was very young when her mother passed, so she barely remembers much about her besides the stories Yang, Qrow, and her father told her. Did all mothers look at their children like that? Did her mother look at her like that? Would she look at her child in the future like that? It was a whole new world for her. Unfortunately, thanks to her daydreaming, she didn't realize she put more cream than coffee into Jack's cup. She let out a small yelp as noticed.

"Everything all right over there?' Jack asked with concern.

"Yep! E-everything's fine!" It was not fine. What should she do? Should she just serve him and risk being scolded and humiliated in front of her friends? Should she "accidentally" slip up and start over? Or should she explain it to him, and-?

"Here we are!" Jack said as he took the mug from Ruby's hands. How did he sneak up on her like that?! As Jack took a sip, she prepared for the worst. "Mm! It's perfect!" Say what? "It's like you've known me forever! I bet that's your semblance!" Ruby was now blushing hard at these compliments.

"Actually, Dad," Jasper corrected. "Her semblance seems to be closing the distance between point A and point B at a near supersonic velocity."

Jade turned her head (yet was still beating Yang somehow). "Say what?"

"Her semblance is moving really, really fast?" Jack inquired.

"She also leaves rose petals." Yang stated as she- "Oh! You are such a cheater!"

"It's not cheating if you're this good!" Jade retorted.

"Um, yeah, I do move really fast and leave rose petal behind." Ruby answered with a light blush on her face. Half of it was embarrassment, the other half at being complimented.

"I see." As he drank his cream-ee, he noticed Ruby's eyes and raised a brow to them. Was she-?

"Jasmine?" Jelly asked her older sister as she scratched behind Zwei's ears.

"Yes?"

"Why are you staring at the door?"

"I'm waiting for mother."

"But Mommy won't be back for a while."

"Yes, but…" How do you explain to a four-year-old that she just involved herself in the brutalization of the weakest one in the family? Jaune wasn't like the rest of them; he never attended Signal and always hid behind their mother and father when trouble came around. She does remember a time when Jaune used to go outside all the time and play with their cat, Jam, but something happened one night. Something bad. Something very, very bad.

"Hey; what's your excuse Weiss?" Yang asked, as subtly as ever. She was also as lousy of a player as ever because she somehow lost, and Jade left for the restroom! 'How? How do you go and COUNTER?!'

"Hmm?" Weiss responded as disinterested as possible. All eyes were on her. Red now accented her white hair as she noticed. "What?!"

"I said, what's your excuse?" Yang repeated.

"F-for what?" Was she staring that long?

"For watching the door like you're expecting a letter from Neptune." Blake answered.

"I-is it a crime to stare at doors?" She defended.

"Not anymore." June said, not looking up from her book. "They abolished that law six months after it went into effect. Said they didn't specify how long, which started the chicken-based game of seeing how long a person could stare at a door before being arrested, then-"

"The point is, White-Out," Jade said as she came out of the bathroom, "you've been watching the door and it's not even your brother on the other side. So why are you concerned?"

Weiss was beyond flustered. Why was she staring at the door? She didn't like Jaune, but does that mean she can't be concerned about his injuries? His family did rough him up pretty bad, so that could be why. But why didn't she just trust his mother and leave it be? This was the first time in a long time when Weiss was completely speechless!

"You guys did hit him pretty hard." Ruby stated. "So it's understandable that if one of our friends got hurt, we'd be concerned about him. But I thought you said Jaune wasn't your friend, Weiss?"

"Umm…"

Ruby gasped. "Could it be?!"

Oh no. She wouldn't go there.

"Are you…"

Would she?

"… and Jaune…"

Don't say it!

"…becoming friends?!"

Weiss just stared at her partner. Was she serious? Her and Jaune being friends? Well, it's better than what she originally thought. '…Don't think it. Don't think it. Don't think it.' Weiss mentally chanted to herself. She then cleared her throat. "Yes, it may be possible that Arc… I mean, Jaune and I could become friends."

Ruby squealed with delight. Her first friend and her partner are becoming friends! Now she doesn't have to choose between them anymore if they invite her to two separate places at the same time! Not that the situation has ever come up, anyway.

Ruby then turned her attention to the family. "Still, it was pretty harsh what you guys did to him."

"What?" Jack confusedly responded. "Oh, that's right! I never told you the story of family!" Jack looked outside at the late afternoon sky. "I suppose there's enough time for the abridged version."

"Yay! Daddy's story time!" Jelly cried out with glee. As Jack found a seat and sat down, she hopped up onto his thigh.

"That's right, sweetie! So, where should I start?"

"I suppose at the beginning." Blake said as she closed her book.

"Ah," Jack raised his finger, "but where is the beginning?" Team RWBY looked at each other, unsure of what Jack meant. "Or rather, what beginning would you like to hear; the origin of our family, the origin of our family blade, or-"

"Start with the origin of that barbaric family greeting." Weiss stated with disgust.

"Hmm? Oh! The Arc family welcome! Ah, now that takes me back to my first taste of the greeting. I was just a kid myself, around Jaune's age, when I came home from Beacon for some time with my family, which include my parents, my grandfather, and three brothers and I. I heard stories, but I never experienced it myself. Then, as soon as I opened the door, my third older brother buck sucker punched me from behind as I was opening the door. I almost fell to the ground as I went through the door, but luckily, I caught the door knob and caught myself. But as soon as I stood up, my mother gets a swing and I fly out the door into the big oak outside. I hit every branch on the way down, but I somehow landed on my feet! I was dizzy as their punches were hard, but the fun wasn't over yet! My second oldest comes at me with his arm reared back, but as soon as I dodge, he swings his leg into my gut and I landed headfirst into a huge boulder by our well, and I finally keeled over and passed out from the pain. Hahaha! I was a real sorry sight back in my day!"

All of the girls joined in but Blake, Weiss, and Ruby. Yang was in a fit herself, but she loved hearing brawl stories. Weiss cleared her throat to get the room's attention. "But why start this barbaric ritual?"

"Well," Jack started again, "when I came to the next morning, I woke up to my grandfather sitting by my bed. As soon as he saw me, he said, "Two of six", which I didn't get at first, but then he called everyone else in and that was when I got it!"

"It was how long you can last against your family!" Yang exclaimed.

"Yep!" Jack smiled from ear to ear. "And I gotta say, Jaune did better than I did, I think!" He then closed his eyes and turned his head to the ceiling in though. "What was his score again?"

"Four of nine." Jasmine calmly stated. "He did slightly better than you did your first time."

Jack laughed at that. "As it should be with any father and son!"

Weiss sighed loudly. Once again, for the third time, they were getting sidetracked. "But where did this tradition start?"

Jack's laughter died down as his face suddenly no longer glowed with life. "It all started with my great great grandfather." Jelly slid from his lap and ran to Jade, hiding behind her. Joan was also hiding behind the makeshift bed post of books. "He… When he was born, he had twelve brothers and sisters. But, by the time he was old enough to attend Signal, he had eight. At beacon, just five brothers. At graduation, he was all alone. Then he got married and had six kids with her, four boys and two girls. By the time one of them reached Signal age, he had lost another. He decided he had enough. He took the four remaining kids and trained them to become hunters. Trained them to fight to protect the ones you love. He instigated fights, so they could grow strong. He stole food so that they would fight him for it. Once the one came back to visit, he explained the new tradition of the family. The rest, as you can see, is history."

Everyone silent. It wasn't just out of respect, either. Blake was wide-eyed that such a tragic thing would beget such a horrible tradition. Ruby was saddened by the tragic tale, for no words could describe how painful it was to lose someone you love, no matter how close you were. Yang looked at Ruby and understood exactly where Jack was coming from. Weiss… Weiss looked to Jack and asked him one question.

"How many?"

"How many what?"

"How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

The room was once again silent, as the Sun made it's way from afternoon to evening as it began to sink beyond the horizon. All eyes were on Weiss.

"None." Jack simply said. "I'm the only one left."

Across the hall, Jaune finally stirred. He slowly opened his eyes and saw his mother sitting in a chair to his right, reading a black book. He looked to his left and realized he was in his team's room. His entire body felt sore, especially his back, face, gut, and legs. He groaned as he used his arms to help himself up.

"Four of nine."

Jaune was still tired from his reunion. He closed his eyes to regain stability in his head as he turned it towards his mother. "What?"

"Four of nine." She repeated, but Jaune wasn't understanding. Was he still tired? Jetta closed her book and turned to her son. "Four of nine. You lasted against four of us."

"Oh." Jaune couldn't believe it. He couldn't make it to five, but what did he expect. He got stumbled by Jelly! Jelly! She's the baby, and yet she could swing her head with enough force to break his! "I guess I still have a ways to go."

"Yes, you do." Jetta agreed. "You took the pain and tried to play it off that you could take more. When Joan was about to cry, you told her to stop, like you were in control of the situation. You were more worried about her than yourself. If we were Grimm, or bandits, or those White Fang, you would be as good as dead. The fact that you did better than your father is simply just a matter of quantity, not quality."

Jaune looked down at the blankets. She was right. Jaune tried take the tank route and attempted to act like a pain sponge. His pride wouldn't allow him to dodge. He just so-!

"However, you knew that we wouldn't do anything to kill you, and you didn't allow any interference. You took each attack as best as you could, and you certainly lasted longer than any of us expected." Jetta leaned in and kissed her son on the crown of his head. "We're all so proud of you."

"Um, thanks, Mom?" Was his mother always this affectionate? Jaune remembers 'Jetta Arc: Stay out of her study!' and 'Jetta Arc: Woman who sizes up fighters she's never met on television and give accurate results of how they'll win or fail!' Jaune wasn't expecting 'Jetta Arc: Loving mother!'

"You're welcome, Jaune." Jetta stood up and walked over to the light switch, as the Sun was nearly gone for the night to come with its shattered moon rising. She turned the lights on and they shone, blinding the now fully awake Jaune for a few moments. "By the way, I got to know your friend."

"Who; Ruby?" Jaune was caught off guard. Were his mom and his friend, Ruby, becoming friends?

"Yes. She's quite annoying."

Nope.

"But, I can see why you like her. You are your father's son after all. First girl you meet, and you're suddenly friends. Then, suddenly, you both have big important jobs, but you still make time for each other. Then you start giving each other nicknames," Jetta was now staring off into the darkness beyond the window, her voice getting softer, "you notice something about them you can't help but love, then you two…"

"Um, Mom?"

Jetta snapped out of her daze.

"Yes, Jaune?"

"Are you okay? Because, this is the most you've said to me… ever."

Jetta paused for a moment to reflect on his words. Was she that distant from Jaune? She spent most of her time in her study, but she always had an open door policy, so long as they didn't go through said door. She looked at Jaune and saw the reason why. On the back of Jaune's head, covered by his hair, but not invisible to her eyes, were three scars and a much larger, single scar across them. She suddenly felt ill, but held it down for him.

"I'm fine, Jaune, just… reminiscing."

"Oh." Did Jaune see a tear in her eye? He looked to the door and noticed a small bag of cookies with a card that, in big, blocky letters, read, "GET WELL SOON!" He chuckled. "I'm guessing that's from Ruby?"

Jetta groaned. "Yes." But there was something odd. When Ruby entered after knocking, Jetta reached for Dernière Nuit, her blade hidden in the sleeve of her dress, but once she opened the door, Ruby somehow avoided the attack and placed it on the table next to Jaune; next to her! Jetta wouldn't be so self-centered to say, paused "I never miss!", but this was the first time someone so young did it! Was she getting sloppy, or was this girl trained by someone?

Jetta's thought train came to a halt when she heard voices moving down the hall. Jaune checked his scroll and noticed the time.

"Looks like it's dinner time!" Jaune looked at his mother. "Are you all coming?"

"Yes, but I'll be just a moment. Go let your father and your sisters know."

"Sure thing, Mom! I'll see you down there. Love you."

"I love you, too, Jaune."

Once Jaune left, Jetta sat in quiet, alone with her thoughts as the many students made their way to the cafeteria for dinner. For a moment, she thought she heard-

"Merc!" Emerald called to her partner. "Come on, we gotta go!"

"Just a sec!" Mercury Black called back. "I need to make sure my ladies here are ready." The gray-haired young man then made a kissing noise to his mechanical legs as he tweaked a few screws and bolts here and there. Emerald was annoyed at this, which was mostly why he did it.

"Fine, but I'm not saving your seat!" Emerald left without another word.

"Relax, girls, she's just jealous."

A few minutes passed before Mercury felt he was ready to go. He walked out of his room with a strut, hoping to catch the eyes of a few ladies, only to break their hearts later. What would their best friends or big brothers or dads do to him, anyways? Break his legs? Ha! He loves that joke.

He made his way through the courtyard, following the light posts stationed every few yards or so. "I'm not saving your seat!" He mocked. "It's not like I can't toss 'em out, anyways, right? I have 15 years of assassinations under my belt."

"13." A voice said.

"13. Whatever." He stopped dead in his tracks. The voice sounded close. How did they get so close? He slowly turned around and saw… nothing. Nobody was behind him. "What was-?"

"You're getting sloppy, Mercury Black." The voice came from in front of him this time. He jumped back and saw a black dress woman in glasses with silver hair. His blood ran cold.

'The Fastest Blade in Remnant.' Mercury thought to himself. A legend in the world of assassins; with more than a hundred kills and only being caught once, this woman probably had more than a thousand chances to end him. The infamous Jet Black. Or as Mercury liked to call her.

"Auntie?"


End file.
